Rescue
by elisheva
Summary: Set 4 years after Pitch Black without CoR. Riddick decides enough time has pass so he can go find Jack ont to discover she needs a rescue.
1. Chapter 1

**An: Not my characters. I apologize for the shortness right off. Muse only went so far. Please Enjoy.**

* * *

It had been four cold, long years since Riddick had left Iman and Jack... four horrible years in which many of the nights the murderer would be awake with an emotion akin to worry sticking like food in the back of his throat, thinking he didn't leave them quick enough to escape hunters notice.

It had been nearly a year since the last bounty hunter's blood wet his prize shiv and so Riddick convinced himself it was time to make his way to the New Mecca. He was a day out from his destination when he raised the Iman.

It was his pretty wife who answered. She gasped. "Mr. Riddick!"

"Where is the god man?" he gruffly asked, not bothering with niceties.

"He is looking for Jack. She did not come home last night and will not answer her communicator."

"I am on my way."

* * *

Jack slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head. She was in a grey room, tied to a chair it seemed. She watched cautiously as the man who pretended to be her friend and love interest walk towards her.

"Jack! I'm so glad you're awake. I hope the nap has improved your mood."

She conjured enough saliva in her mouth to spit in his face.

He calmly took out a handkerchief to wipe his cheek. "You keep that up you won't make it our of here alive."

Her face hurt- he had hit her unconscious before- but she bravely glared as well as she could. "You really don't expect me to believe you mean for me to live."

"Whether you live is up to you, Jack."

"I don't know who you're asking about, Jasper. IF that's your name."

"It'll do. And you are lying. You'll learn not to lie to me." Almost emotionless he landed her a hit that spilt her lip.

She sucked it in, using the pain to help her concentrate. "If I knew him I wouldn't help you."

"You would protect a man who left you alone for four years?"

She didn't answer.

Jasper shrugged. "Makes no matter to me, Jack. It's not your answers I need. It's you."

She gasped as she realized what he intended. She was going to be bait...


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Riddick had landed and made his silent way to where Iman now lived Jack had been missing for 24 hours without notification which terrified the prayer man and his wife.

"Very unlike her, Mr. Riddick. She is such a courteous child."

"Where's her room?" Riddick asked, looking around to see everything through his goggles.

"This way." Iman led him up a flight of stairs and to the right into a bedroom that screamed individuality and independent. Iman left Riddick to perform a search to get the feel of the girl he had left behind to grow into quite a woman it seemed.

Clean room except for some folded laundry in the corner that hadn't made it to its proper place quite yet. Posters adorning her walls were of action heroes armed with guns, Riddick had to grin humorlessly at the irony of that. A group appearing to be a music band was above her small bed.

Riddick knew what he was looking for- some piece of privacy that told Jack's inner secrets to help him find her.

Under the bed he didn't find what he wanted but he did find several shivs in their holders. Girl left comfortable wherever she had gone.

Finally, in the back of the closet hidden on a shelf behind odds and ends he found a diary. Feeling no remorse for reading her private words, Riddick turned to the last page and scanned it for something pertinent.

When he read all he needed he and the book made their way down the stairs and to the dining table where Iman and his wife waited.

"Who's Jasper?" he asked as he threw the leather bound pages on the table.

Iman looked helpless. "Some boy she met. They've been close for many months now."

"What's he look like?" Riddick asked of them.

The two exchanged a glance. "We don't know."

He narrowed his covered eyes. "You let Jack see this man without him meeting you?" he growled.

"He came here several times," Iman explained. "But he stayed in the porch in the shadows. We did not realize until this morning what had happened."

"Where was she to go last night?"

"Dinner at Michelle's. Are you going there now?"

"Yes. And when I find this Jasper he's going to wish he never _thought_ about talking to Jack."


	3. Chapter 3

The boy had left clues. Everywhere. Riddick found the boy had left such good clues he was surprised his own name wasn't given to those passing the word. Riddick had this kid's number, though. He knew a trap when he saw one. As he sat across from the house Jasper was keeping Jack he saw a trap. He also saw no way out of the situation without tripping the trap and so it began.

He moved stealthily across the street, sticking in the shadows until the last moment. Reaching that last moment he steeled himself, shiv in hand, then let himself into the door.

He made it to the doorway of what appeared to be the living room when he heard a voice.

"Ah! Welcome, Riddick! I see you've made it to the party and just in time, right, Jack?"

The light was turned on and Riddick was treated with a view of Jack- at least he thought it was Jack. Same eyes, blackened as they were, same mouth, bloodied as it was. He didn't have time to study the other changes.

He concentrated on Jasper. Tall, lean, smart, conniving. "Tell me why I shouldn't ghost you now," Riddick growled at the man.

Jasper smiled. "I've heard so much about you." He caught the glance to Jack Riddick made. "Oh, no. Not from her. She's extremely tight-lipped as far as you're concerned. But your legend exceeds you. I've always wanted the change to fight you."

Riddick cocked his head, his eyes in his goggles giving him a clear view. "You itching for a fight, kid?" he asked in dangerous tones.

Jasper's smile widened. "I'm thinking you won't have much of a choice, old man. And when we're done, when I'm done with you I'll tape your eyes open so you have to watch what I am going to do to your precious Jack."

If he was looking for a rise from Riddick he received one but if he was looking for an advantage from it he was mistaken. Jasper was fast on his feet but Riddick was faster, more cunning, more skilled.

Jasper had a long serrated knife in one hand and a hand held electric shocker in the other. Riddick had his shiv and thought that was all he needed.

Jack watched in silent horror as Jasper lunged at Riddick only to have the man move skillfully away at the last moment. It was a deadly dance- one Riddick was fighting for her while Jasper just fought to win.

Then Jasper scored a hit on Riddick, shocking him in his abdomen. Jack screamed against the rag in her mouth as she watched horrified as she waited for Riddick to go down.

She clearly underestimated adrenaline. Riddick looked down at where the machine hit his stomach muscles, knocked the weapon away and, as if he was tired of playing with his prey he went for the kill, slicing Jasper from ear to ear, ignoring him as he fell down to the ground.

Riddick headed straight for her, yanking the dirty rag from her mouth. "How you doing, kid?"

"Oh, Riddick," She managed. "Better now. But, Riddick, the others!"

He released her hands and then feet and pulled her roughly up as three men came in to see Jasper dead. "Out."

"Riddick."

He shoved her towards the unguarded back of the house. "Get the hell out. And don't linger. Run until you're home." His voice left no room for argument so she ran towards the door. Once outside, however, Jack stopped and hid in the shadows. She had waited for him for four long years. Now that she had him in her sights she wasn't going to let him slip away again that easily.

A minute passed by. Then another. What could be keeping him? A brief thought arose that Riddick was outnumbered then she quickly squashed it. No sense thinking like that.

Suddenly the door opened and a solitary figure slipped into the moonlight. Relief flowed through Jack as she left her hiding place. "Riddick!"

He was covered with blood, though she was sure it was not his own. He gave her a smirk. "Should've known you'd ignore my explicit instructions."

She nodded as they started walking. "I wanted to see you before you left again."

He said nothing in response.

While the Iman and his wife gave proper welcome home to their adoptive daughter Riddick stole away upstairs. He carefully took his black shirt off and looked down at his abused abdomen. Where he was shocked was beginning to bruise spectacularly and stung like a bitch. He also had been sliced by one of the men but it had already stopped bleeding.

Footsteps on the stairs alerted him of Jack's presence. He grabbed a fresh shirt and put it on as she cleared her throat for attention. Then he turned.

"Um," she started, " I wanted to say thanks for getting me."

"Watch who you friend," he told her, crossing his arms, giving him a menacing look.

"I know. Iman told me he didn't have to call you here. Why did you come?"

He shifted his eyes but she couldn't tell behind his eye shield. "Told you I'd come back."

She stepped into the room. "I waited and waited for you to come."

He grit his teeth. "I _told_ you I'd come when it was safe."

"Four years!?"

"And it still wasn't safe!" he snapped. "A mercenary found you."

She looked deflated. "So, you just came to rescue me? That's it?"

"No, I came for you."

She gawped for a moment. "For me? What do you mean?"

He took a deep breath for his temper. "I mean, we leave as soon as you're packed."

She didn't say another word. She ran to him to give him a hug and a surprising kiss on the cheek before running again out of the room.


End file.
